INVISIBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does invisible mean? 

• INVISIBLE (adjective)
  The adjective INVISIBLE has 2 senses:

1. impossible or nearly impossible to see; imperceptible by the eye

2. not prominent or readily noticeable

  Familiarity information: INVISIBLE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INVISIBLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Impossible or nearly impossible to see; imperceptible by the eye

Synonyms:

invisible; unseeable

Context example:

invisible mending

Similar:

camouflaged (made invisible by means of protective coloring)

concealed; hidden; out of sight (not accessible to view)

infrared (having or employing wavelengths longer than light but shorter than radio waves; lying outside the visible spectrum at its red end)

lightless (giving no light)

nonvisual (not resulting in vision)

occult (hidden and difficult to see)

ultraviolet (having or employing wavelengths shorter than light but longer than X-rays; lying outside the visible spectrum at its violet end)

undetectable (not easily seen)

unseen (not seen or perceived)

Also:

covert (secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed)

imperceptible; unperceivable (impossible or difficult to perceive by the mind or senses)

Antonym:

visible (capable of being seen; or open to easy view)

Derivation:

invisibility; invisibleness (the quality of not being perceivable by the eye)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not prominent or readily noticeable

Synonyms:

inconspicuous; invisible

Context example:

the invisible man

Similar:

obscure; unnoticeable (not drawing attention)

Attribute:

conspicuousness (high visibility)

 Context examples 

Invisible to the human eye, the cloud was detected at infrared wavelengths by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer, or CIRS, on the Cassini spacecraft.

(NASA Team Finds Noxious Ice Cloud on Saturn’s Moon Titan, NASA)

The metal ions can reveal previously invisible activity in the mysterious electrically charged upper atmosphere (ionosphere) of Mars.

(Mars Has Metal in Its Atmosphere, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It was invisible, buried in the mud.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Far from being an empty void, the space around Earth is a jungle of invisible fields and tiny particles.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and that I had struggled out into unhoped- for liberty.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the image, infrared wavelengths, which are invisible to the unaided eye, have been assigned visible colors.

(A Space Spider Watches Over Young Stars, NASA)

Dark matter is an invisible material that makes up most of the universe’s mass.

(Hubble Uncovers the Farthest Star Ever Seen, NASA)

If you ever felt a little invisible at gatherings, you won’t feel that way while Mars is in Capricorn.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

An invisible substance, dark matter is the underlying scaffolding upon which galaxies are built.

(Dark Matter Goes Missing in Oddball Galaxy, NASA)

Now we’ve realised that it’s the diversity of this invisible world of organic molecules that’s important.

(Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater ecosystems, University of Cambridge)